Failure
by Captain-Confusion
Summary: What if Coraline never managed to escape the Other World? What if her plan failed, and the Other Mother got what she had wanted all along? Oneshot. Rated T because it's a little graphic.


A/N: Hey, all! This is just a oneshot I wrote recently that I thought I would share with you. I hope you like it! Please R&R!

Disclaimer: Coraline and all the Beldam belong to Neil Gaiman, Laika Studios, and Henry Selik.

* * *

Coraline's heart raced as she watched the Beldam open the little door. There was a slight squeak as it swung open to reveal nothing but the long, empty tunnel. In her arms, Cat squirmed violently, retracting his claws into the flesh of her wrists. The cracked, peeling flaps of skin that served as the Other Mother's lips stretched backward to form a horrible, disgusting grin. Still sneering, she spat, "You _don't_ know where your parents are, do you?"

Hands trembling, palms sweating, heart pounding, ears roaring, Coraline half-stumbled backward, still clutching the cat.

"Now, you're going to stay here forever," the Other Mother crowed. Coraline's throat closed. Hardly thinking, her hands flew out, and the cat soared, claws extended and limbs outstretched, into the air, toward the peeling, white face of the cruel Beldam, and for a moment, Coraline rejoiced inside. Her happiness transformed to sheer terror as a horrid shriek pierced the air. The Cat wailed again loudly. Blood splattered out from its chest; The Other Mother had blocked him with one of her needle-like hands.

Now on the floor and howling with agony, Cat lay on the floor in a puddle of trickling crimson fluid. It was all Coraline could do not to scream herself until the Other Mother, with her crimson-stained, thin, metal fingers, snarled like a rabid animal.

"_How dare you!_" she roared. "_Wretched thing. You cheater!" _

Coraline began to hyperventilate in despair. This was the end. This was how she would die. She, her parents, all the ghost children… Needle fingers flashed before her eyes, and before she knew what she was doing, her legs had carried her halfway across the room. She bolted for the little door, but the Beldam was only inches behind, the sound of her needles scraping the wooden floor.

Coraline cried out and fell in a heap before the door. She clawed desperately at the wood with her fingers. There was the feeling of something cold and metallic grasping her ankles, followed by a sharp, stinging sensation.

"No!" Coraline screeched. Panting, grunting, and gasping for air in fury and determination, the Other Mother yanked Coraline's feet. Her fingers were pried loose from the door, and she immediately found herself being dragged across the floor toward the hideous, spider-like monstrosity looming over her.

"You little brat!" the Beldam hissed. "You're mine now!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Tears flooded from Coraline's eyes and down her cheeks as she begged and begged for mercy to no avail. She struggled and kicked, but the Other Mother was so much stronger, and so much bigger. Suddenly, she found herself dangling in the air by one foot, the world tilting and spinning below her in dizzying circles. She swung her hands blindly in an attempt to snag one of the Other Mother's eyes, but never found purchase.

"Now you will stay here and be my little girl! You are _mine_, you hear me! _Mine!_"

The Other Mother's voice had long since transformed into a nearly inaudible series of shrieks. Coraline curled up halfway and thrust herself backward, and for a moment, she was flying. For a moment, she was free from the grasp of the Other Mother. Then there was an explosion of pain like nothing she'd ever felt before in her head.

Coraline gasped. She gingerly brought a hand to her throbbing, pounding, skull. Her stomach and her chest heaved from the pain; it was as if her head were being torn apart from the inside out. The world around her flashed and darkened constantly. It shifted and turned and spun mercilessly until there was almost nothing left of it. She glanced up to find that she had struck the mantle over the fireplace headfirst. Violently shaking, she pulled her hand away from the wound on her head. Blood rested on the tips of her quivering fingers.

There was rapid movement overhead. A shadow abruptly appeared above her and blocked out the rest of the world. She felt the cold, skeletal fingers grab hold of and grip her face from the jaw up, and watched as a round, black shape was placed gently over her left eye. There were four holes in the shape, through which she could still seldom see the Other Mother's distorted figure. A burst of fire in her head made her squirm and whimper.

"Shush, shush, my dear. It'll all be over soon."

That voice. Coraline knew that voice. But what did it mean? Who did it belong to? What would be over soon? The pain? She certainly hoped so. Her body was gently lifted from the rough, solid stone of the fireplace, and carried across the room. She was tenderly set upon a soft, pink cushion.

"Hold still, darling," the soothing voice insisted when she squirmed at the pain in her head.

Through the black shape and with her uncovered eye, she could see a sharp, fine piece of metal coming toward her, a tiny black tail dangling from the back of it. A voice from somewhere far away protested vehemently, then let out the longest, loudest scream she had ever heard in her life. Just as the screaming began, something punctured her eyeball, and a vile, poisonous, fiery acid devoured the socket. The screaming persisted, louder, becoming inhuman. The fire of a thousand needles burned at the flesh of her face. The needle stabbed into her eye through the button again and again and again, and each time she screamed, more pain in the rest of her body followed.

Another black shape appeared over her other eye. The shrieking was almost too loud now. She clawed furiously at nothingness as another dose of the burning acid was injected into the other eye. Her legs kicked involuntarily. Her head thrashed. Needles clawed at her skin and left burning, bleeding marks. It wasn't until she could no longer feel the stabbing needles that, with her throat now hoarse and stinging, she realized it was her screaming all along. A cool blackness settled through her body from the buttons in her eyes. Her limbs jolted, then hung limp. It was almost as if she were asleep for a few seconds. As soft as a feather, the voice whispered, "Goodnight, sweet Coraline." Then, nothingness closed in, and Coraline's chest contracted as she released a final, shuddering breath.


End file.
